Enabling digital asset reuse through dynamically curated shared personal collections with eminence propagation

ABSTRACT

A method and associated systems for reusing digital assets and automatically updating user and asset eminence values associated with each asset reuse. Users each control a collection of digital assets and each user and each asset is assigned an eminence value that represents a relative importance of a user or asset. When a first user accesses an asset, that asset is copied to the first user&#39;s collection. When a second user accesses the first user&#39;s copy, the asset is copied to the second user&#39;s collection, and the eminence of the first user and of the asset are increased. When a third user accesses the second user&#39;s copy, the asset is copied to the third user&#39;s collection and first-user&#39;s, second-user&#39;s, and asset&#39;s eminence values increase. The second user may automatically locate an asset in the first user&#39;s collection by “following” the first user.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to identifying, characterizing, andenabling reuse of digital assets.

BACKGROUND

Users of digital resources frequently create digital assets, such asword-processor documents, video files, audio files, spreadsheets,computer programs, Web sites, databases, digital photographs, textmessages, online social-media feeds, address books, flow charts,graphics, and any of a huge number of other types of useful digitalentities.

Creating a digital asset may consume significant time, effort, or otherresources, so it can be more efficient to reuse all or part of anexisting asset, rather than creating one from scratch. But it may bedifficult for a user to identify, evaluate, or access such an existingasset in a multi-user environment like a business's computer network, acloud-computing environment, or a social-media network.

BRIEF SUMMARY

One embodiment of the present invention provides a method for enablingdigital asset reuse, the method comprising:

-   -   a processor of a computer system detecting that a first user has        used a digital asset,        -   wherein the first user is associated with a first            user-eminence value that represents a relative importance of            the first user, and        -   wherein the digital asset is associated with an            asset-eminence value that represents a relative importance            of the digital asset;    -   the processor, in response to the detecting, automatically        creating and adding a first instance of the digital asset to a        first collection of digital assets for a purpose of allowing        other users to identify and use the digital asset, wherein the        first collection is a personal collection of the first user and        is accessible by other users without requiring an action of the        processor;    -   the processor further detecting that a second user has        identified the first instance of the digital asset, that the        second user has requested from the first user access to the        first instance of the digital asset in response to the        identifying, and that the second user has, upon receiving        permission from the first user, subsequently used the first        instance, wherein the second user is associated with a second        user-eminence value that represents a relative importance of the        second user, and;    -   the processor responding to the further detecting by further        automatically creating and adding a second instance of the        digital asset to a second collection of digital assets for a        purpose of allowing other users to identify and use the digital        asset, wherein the second collection is a personal collection of        the second user and is accessible by other users without        requiring an action of the processor;    -   the processor revising, as a function of the further detecting,        the asset-eminence value and the first user-eminence value, but        not the second user-eminence value;

the processor receiving notice that a third user has further identifiedthe second instance of the digital asset, that the third user hasrequested from the second user access to the second instance of thedigital asset in response to the further identifying, and that the thirduser has, upon receiving permission from the second user, subsequentlyused the second instance, wherein the third user is associated with athird user-eminence value that represents a relative importance of thethird user, and;

-   -   the processor automatically creating and adding a third instance        of the digital asset to a third collection of digital assets for        a purpose of allowing other users to identify and use the        digital asset, wherein the third collection is a personal        collection of the third user and is accessible by other users        without requiring an action of the processor; and    -   the processor further revising, as a function of the receiving        notice, the asset-eminence value, the first user-eminence value,        and the second user-eminence value, but not the third        user-eminence value.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a computer programproduct, comprising a computer-readable hardware storage device having acomputer-readable program code stored therein, said program codeconfigured to be executed by a processor of a computer system toimplement a method for enabling digital asset reuse, the methodcomprising:

-   -   a processor of a computer system detecting that a first user has        used a digital asset,        -   wherein the first user is associated with a first            user-eminence value that represents a relative importance of            the first user, and        -   wherein the digital asset is associated with an            asset-eminence value that represents a relative importance            of the digital asset;    -   the processor, in response to the detecting, automatically        creating and adding a first instance of the digital asset to a        first collection of digital assets for a purpose of allowing        other users to identify and use the digital asset, wherein the        first collection is a personal collection of the first user and        is accessible by other users without requiring an action of the        processor;    -   the processor further detecting that a second user has        identified the first instance of the digital asset, that the        second user has requested from the first user access to the        first instance of the digital asset in response to the        identifying, and that the second user has, upon receiving        permission from the first user, subsequently used the first        instance, wherein the second user is associated with a second        user-eminence value that represents a relative importance of the        second user, and;    -   the processor responding to the further detecting by further        automatically creating and adding a second instance of the        digital asset to a second collection of digital assets for a        purpose of allowing other users to identify and use the digital        asset, wherein the second collection is a personal collection of        the second user and is accessible by other users without        requiring an action of the processor;    -   the processor revising, as a function of the further detecting,        the asset-eminence value and the first user-eminence value, but        not the second user-eminence value;    -   the processor receiving notice that a third user has further        identified the second instance of the digital asset, that the        third user has requested from the second user access to the        second instance of the digital asset in response to the further        identifying, and that the third user has, upon receiving        permission from the second user, subsequently used the second        instance, wherein the third user is associated with a third        user-eminence value that represents a relative importance of the        third user, and;    -   the processor automatically creating and adding a third instance        of the digital asset to a third collection of digital assets for        a purpose of allowing other users to identify and use the        digital asset, wherein the third collection is a personal        collection of the third user and is accessible by other users        without requiring an action of the processor; and    -   the processor further revising, as a function of the receiving        notice, the asset-eminence value, the first user-eminence value,        and the second user-eminence value, but not the third        user-eminence value.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention provides a computersystem comprising a processor, a memory coupled to said processor, and acomputer-readable hardware storage device coupled to said processor,said storage device containing program code configured to be run by saidprocessor via the memory to implement a method for enabling digitalasset reuse, the method comprising:

-   -   the processor detecting that a first user has used a digital        asset,        -   wherein the first user is associated with a first            user-eminence value that represents a relative importance of            the first user, and        -   wherein the digital asset is associated with an            asset-eminence value that represents a relative importance            of the digital asset;    -   the processor, in response to the detecting, automatically        creating and adding a first instance of the digital asset to a        first collection of digital assets for a purpose of allowing        other users to identify and use the digital asset, wherein the        first collection is a personal collection of the first user and        is accessible by other users without requiring an action of the        processor;    -   the processor further detecting that a second user has        identified the first instance of the digital asset, that the        second user has requested from the first user access to the        first instance of the digital asset in response to the        identifying, and that the second user has, upon receiving        permission from the first user, subsequently used the first        instance, wherein the second user is associated with a second        user-eminence value that represents a relative importance of the        second user, and;    -   the processor responding to the further detecting by further        automatically creating and adding a second instance of the        digital asset to a second collection of digital assets for a        purpose of allowing other users to identify and use the digital        asset, wherein the second collection is a personal collection of        the second user and is accessible by other users without        requiring an action of the processor;    -   the processor revising, as a function of the further detecting,        the asset-eminence value and the first user-eminence value, but        not the second user-eminence value;    -   the processor receiving notice that a third user has further        identified the second instance of the digital asset, that the        third user has requested from the second user access to the        second instance of the digital asset in response to the further        identifying, and that the third user has, upon receiving        permission from the second user, subsequently used the second        instance, wherein the third user is associated with a third        user-eminence value that represents a relative importance of the        third user, and;    -   the processor automatically creating and adding a third instance        of the digital asset to a third collection of digital assets for        a purpose of allowing other users to identify and use the        digital asset, wherein the third collection is a personal        collection of the third user and is accessible by other users        without requiring an action of the processor; and    -   the processor further revising, as a function of the receiving        notice, the asset-eminence value, the first user-eminence value,        and the second user-eminence value, but not the third        user-eminence value.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the structure of a computer system and computer programcode that may be used to implement a method for enabling digital assetreuse through dynamically curated shared personal collections witheminence propagation in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart that overviews a first embodiment of the presentinvention that enables digital asset reuse by two users throughdynamically curated shared personal collections with eminencepropagation.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart that overviews a second embodiment of the presentinvention that enables digital asset reuse by more than two usersthrough dynamically curated shared personal collections with eminencepropagation.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart that illustrates a method of deriving anasset-eminence value associated with a digital asset in accordance withembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart that illustrates a method of deriving auser-eminence value in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Users of digital resources frequently create digital assets, such asword-processor documents, video files, audio files, spreadsheets,computer programs, Web sites, databases, digital photographs, textmessages, online social-media feeds, address books, flow charts,graphics, and any of a huge number of other types of useful digitalentities.

Creating a digital asset may consume significant time, effort, or otherresources, so it can be more efficient to reuse all or part of anexisting asset, rather than creating one from scratch. But it may bedifficult for a user to identify, evaluate, or access such an existingasset in a multi-user environment like a business's computer network, acloud-computing environment, or a social-media network.

Embodiments of the present invention address this need by allowing andmotivating users of a social network or other multi-user electroniccommunications environment to locate, characterize, and reuse digitalassets created by other users.

This is accomplished by assigning “eminence” values to each user and toeach digital asset created or used by a user. These eminence values maybe associated with incentives intended to motivate users to reuse otherusers' existing assets, rather than to create new assets from scratch.Assets that are reused more often may be associated with greatereminence. Similarly, a user may gain eminence if an asset created by ormade accessible by that user is more often reused by other users.

Embodiments of the present invention may further facilitate a user'sability to locate an appropriate asset by means of metadata or othercharacterizing information that identify a characteristic of an asset orof a user associated with the asset. In some embodiments, an “affinity”may associate users or assets that share common or otherwise-desirableattributes or characteristics, and such an affinity may be used tolocate a particular type of asset.

Embodiments may further comprise mathematical formulas for adjustingasset eminence and user eminence as a function of asset access or reuse.Some embodiments may further comprise a “decay” function, whereinadjustment of an eminence value is a function of a number of times anasset has been reused, of a number of generations of reuse of an asset,or of a time of usage.

These embodiments will be described in greater detail in FIGS. 1-5. Thepresent invention should not be construed to be limited to theembodiments described herein, nor should it be construed to be limitedto a social-networking environment. The present invention may beimplemented in any environment or platform in which multiple users mayuse and share assets, including, but not limited to, a networkedworkgroup, an enterprise computer network, a cellular network, a Website, and a mobile-device application.

FIG. 1 shows a structure of a computer system and computer program codethat may be used to implement a method for enabling digital asset reusethrough dynamically curated shared personal collections with eminencepropagation in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.FIG. 1 refers to objects 101-115.

Aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirelyhardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (includingfirmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodimentcombining software and hardware aspects that may all generally bereferred to herein as a “circuit,” “module,” or “system.”

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

In FIG. 1, computer system 101 comprises a processor 103 coupled throughone or more I/O Interfaces 109 to one or more hardware data storagedevices 111 and one or more I/O devices 113 and 115.

Hardware data storage devices 111 may include, but are not limited to,magnetic tape drives, fixed or removable hard disks, optical discs,storage-equipped mobile devices, and solid-state random-access orread-only storage devices. I/O devices may comprise, but are not limitedto: input devices 113, such as keyboards, scanners, handheldtelecommunications devices, touch-sensitive displays, tablets, biometricreaders, joysticks, trackballs, or computer mice; and output devices115, which may comprise, but are not limited to printers, plotters,tablets, mobile telephones, displays, or sound-producing devices. Datastorage devices 111, input devices 113, and output devices 115 may belocated either locally or at remote sites from which they are connectedto I/O Interface 109 through a network interface.

Processor 103 may also be connected to one or more memory devices 105,which may include, but are not limited to, Dynamic RAM (DRAM), StaticRAM (SRAM), Programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM), Field-ProgrammableGate Arrays (FPGA), Secure Digital memory cards, SIM cards, or othertypes of memory devices.

At least one memory device 105 contains stored computer program code107, which is a computer program that comprises computer-executableinstructions. The stored computer program code includes a program thatimplements a method for enabling digital asset reuse through dynamicallycurated shared personal collections with eminence propagation inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention, and may implementother embodiments described in this specification, including the methodsillustrated in FIGS. 1-5. The data storage devices 111 may store thecomputer program code 107. Computer program code 107 stored in thestorage devices 111 is configured to be executed by processor 103 viathe memory devices 105. Processor 103 executes the stored computerprogram code 107.

Thus the present invention discloses a process for supporting computerinfrastructure, integrating, hosting, maintaining, and deployingcomputer-readable code into the computer system 101, wherein the code incombination with the computer system 101 is capable of performing amethod for enabling digital asset reuse through dynamically curatedshared personal collections with eminence propagation.

Any of the components of the present invention could be created,integrated, hosted, maintained, deployed, managed, serviced, supported,etc. by a service provider who offers to facilitate a method forenabling digital asset reuse through dynamically curated shared personalcollections with eminence propagation. Thus the present inventiondiscloses a process for deploying or integrating computinginfrastructure, comprising integrating computer-readable code into thecomputer system 101, wherein the code in combination with the computersystem 101 is capable of performing a method for enabling digital assetreuse through dynamically curated shared personal collections witheminence propagation.

One or more data storage units 111 (or one or more additional memorydevices not shown in FIG. 1) may be used as a computer-readable hardwarestorage device having a computer-readable program embodied thereinand/or having other data stored therein, wherein the computer-readableprogram comprises stored computer program code 107. Generally, acomputer program product (or, alternatively, an article of manufacture)of computer system 101 may comprise said computer-readable hardwarestorage device.

While it is understood that program code 107 for cross-retail marketingbased on analytics of multichannel clickstream data may be deployed bymanually loading the program code 107 directly into client, server, andproxy computers (not shown) by loading the program code 107 into acomputer-readable storage medium (e.g., computer data storage device111), program code 107 may also be automatically or semi-automaticallydeployed into computer system 101 by sending program code 107 to acentral server (e.g., computer system 101) or to a group of centralservers. Program code 107 may then be downloaded into client computers(not shown) that will execute program code 107.

Alternatively, program code 107 may be sent directly to the clientcomputer via e-mail. Program code 107 may then either be detached to adirectory on the client computer or loaded into a directory on theclient computer by an e-mail option that selects a program that detachesprogram code 107 into the directory.

Another alternative is to send program code 107 directly to a directoryon the client computer hard drive. If proxy servers are configured, theprocess selects the proxy server code, determines on which computers toplace the proxy servers' code, transmits the proxy server code, and theninstalls the proxy server code on the proxy computer. Program code 107is then transmitted to the proxy server and stored on the proxy server.

In one embodiment, program code 107 for cross-retail marketing based onanalytics of multichannel clickstream data is integrated into a client,server and network environment by providing for program code 107 tocoexist with software applications (not shown), operating systems (notshown) and network operating systems software (not shown) and theninstalling program code 107 on the clients and servers in theenvironment where program code 107 will function.

The first step of the aforementioned integration of code included inprogram code 107 is to identify any software on the clients and servers,including the network operating system (not shown), where program code107 will be deployed that are required by program code 107 or that workin conjunction with program code 107. This identified software includesthe network operating system, where the network operating systemcomprises software that enhances a basic operating system by addingnetworking features. Next, the software applications and version numbersare identified and compared to a list of software applications andcorrect version numbers that have been tested to work with program code107. A software application that is missing or that does not match acorrect version number is upgraded to the correct version.

A program instruction that passes parameters from program code 107 to asoftware application is checked to ensure that the instruction'sparameter list matches a parameter list required by the program code107. Conversely, a parameter passed by the software application toprogram code 107 is checked to ensure that the parameter matches aparameter required by program code 107. The client and server operatingsystems, including the network operating systems, are identified andcompared to a list of operating systems, version numbers, and networksoftware programs that have been tested to work with program code 107.An operating system, version number, or network software program thatdoes not match an entry of the list of tested operating systems andversion numbers is upgraded to the listed level on the client computersand upgraded to the listed level on the server computers.

After ensuring that the software, where program code 107 is to bedeployed, is at a correct version level that has been tested to workwith program code 107, the integration is completed by installingprogram code 107 on the clients and servers.

Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented as a methodperformed by a processor of a computer system, as a computer programproduct, as a computer system, or as a processor-performed process orservice for supporting computer infrastructure.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart that overviews a first embodiment of the presentinvention that enables digital asset reuse by two users throughdynamically curated shared personal collections with eminencepropagation. FIG. 2 comprises steps 201-213.

In step 201, one or more processors of a computer system allow a firstuser to identify or characterize itself, to associate itself with apersonal collection of digital assets, and to identify or characterizeeach asset of the personal collection. In some embodiments, each userwill be associated with a distinct personal collection of digitalassets, and some or all of these collections, or some or all of theassets comprised by these collections, may be stored in acloud-computing environment. In some embodiments, some or all of thesecollections, or some or all of the assets comprised by thesecollections, may be stored on Internet-based storage resources, privateintranet-based storage resources, other privately owned storageresources, or combinations thereof.

In some embodiments, the first user may be characterized as a member ofa predefined class, such as an evangelist (one who actively promotes useof a certain type of asset, or who promotes some other relevantactivity), as an asset creator (an original source of an asset), as aleader (a person who is frequently followed or who is followed by acertain number of other users), or a frequent user of a specific assetor specific type of asset.

In some embodiments, these tasks may comprise a user's manual orautomatic associations of itself with specific types of attributes. Auser might, for example, associate itself with the user's job function,with a domain of technical expertise (such as marketing, softwareengineering, or Java Web design), with a personal like or dislike, orwith a personal characteristic, such as age, geographical region ofresidence, or education.

A user may also be associated with a user-eminence value that identifiesan importance or prominence of the user within a context relevant to theembodiment. A value of a first user's user-eminence might, for example,be a function of the first user's influence on other users, mightindicate a likelihood that the first user's use of a digital asset willresult in reuse of that asset by other users, or might be a function ofan other characteristic of the first user, as described below.

Similarly, each asset comprised by the user's personal collection may bemanually or automatically associated with characteristics or attributes,by means of methods that may be analogous to one or more of the methodsby which the user is associated with a characteristic or attribute.

Such characteristics or attributes of an asset may comprise, but are notlimited to, a media type of the asset, such as text, graphics, video,audio, streaming audio/visual media, a PowerPoint presentation, aspreadsheet, an interactive form, or an animation; a type of content ofthe asset, such as financial data, a product demonstration, a news item,a product-installation guide, a business presentation, or a technicalsolution document that may comprise, but is not limited to, a functionalor non-functional requirement, an architecture overview diagram, or asolution-component descriptions; a creation date; a most-recentmodification date; or a number of users that have used or reused theasset. Characteristics or attributes may further comprise other types ofmetadata, such as a file size or creation source, or may comprisekeywords found in freeform or structured comments or tags associatedwith an asset.

In some cases, asset metadata may identify other types ofcharacteristics or attributes of a particular asset, such as a pointeror reference to a user, source, or other asset from which the particularasset acquired or borrowed content, a rating of the asset that may bebased in part on the popularity of the particular asset or on eminenceof users who access or reuse all or part of the particular asset,miscellaneous tags that describe entities associated with the asset, orfreeform notes or comments entered by one or more users. A specificasset may also be associated with metadata that identifies orcharacterizes a requirement or a class of requirements associated withthe specific asset, such as a minimum or maximum requirement for storagecapacity or communications bandwidth, or a requirement for previewing,viewing, or updating the requirement by a specific date or time.

In some embodiments, when a particular user adds a new instance of aselected asset to a personal collection, an update and eminencepropagation engine or other component of an embodiment of the presentinvention responds to the adding by automatically associating certaintypes of metadata with the asset. These certain types may comprise, butare not limited to, an identification of a “parent” instance of theasset from which the new instance was derived or, if the new instance isderived all or in part from more than one asset, an identification ofeach “parent” instance from which the new instance was derived.

The propagation engine or other component may also associate metadatawith the new instance that comprises search criteria by which theparticular user located or identified the selected asset. In someembodiments, the propagation engine or other component may alsoassociate metadata with the new instance that comprises metadataassociated with each asset or stored asset instance from which the newinstance was derived.

When another user accesses and copies the asset associated with the newinstance, the propagation engine or other component may automaticallypropagate some or all of the new instance's metadata to a newly createdinstance stored in the another user's personal collection.

In some embodiments, if a user manually assigns a personal rating to anasset stored in the user's collection, that personal rating may in asimilar way be recorded and propagated as would any other type ofmetadata associated with an asset.

An asset may also be associated with an asset-eminence value thatidentifies an importance or prominence of the asset within a contextrelevant to the embodiment. A value of a first asset's eminence might,for example, be a function of the first asset's frequency of use orreuse, of a number of users who use or reuse the asset, or of auser-eminence of a user that uses or reuses the asset. In such a case,the asset-eminence value might indicate a likelihood that the firstuser's use of a digital asset will result in reuse of that asset byother assets.

In some embodiments, some or all of these attributes or characteristics,including a user-eminence value and an asset-eminence value, may beinitially set to a default value. In other embodiments, some or all ofthese attributes, characteristics, and eminence values may be assignedvalues automatically or manually by the user, by the one or moreprocessors, or by other users. In some embodiments, some or all of theseattributes, characteristics, and eminence values may be initially leftempty, set to zero, or placed in a null state until they are assignedvalues as a function of other steps of the method of FIG. 2.

In some cases, assets of the first user's personal collection may bestored in a data structure, such as a database, a tree, an other type ofhierarchy, or as sets of ordered tuples.

At the conclusion of step 201, the one or more processors will haveassociated each user with a personal collection of digital assets thatis specific to that user. Each user and each asset may have beenassociated with one or more characteristics or attributes, including auser-eminence value or an asset-eminence value.

In some embodiments, a same digital asset may be comprised by more thanone user's personal collection. In such cases, each personal collectionmay comprise a distinct instance of that same digital asset. In oneexample, a first user's personal collection may comprise 125 digitalassets, including a video tour of the first user's manufacturingoperation; and a second user's personal collection may comprise sixdigital assets, including the same video tour. Here, the first user'spersonal collection may be said to comprise a first instance of thevideo tour and the second user's personal collection may be said tocomprise a second instance of the video tour. Because a digital assetmay be associated with only one asset-eminence value, both instanceswould be associated with a same asset-eminence value.

In step 203, the one or more processors detect that the first user hasidentified, used, or otherwise accessed a first asset. Here, the firstasset may comprise any sort of digital content or other entity that maybe managed by an embodiment of the present invention. The first user maylocate or identify the first asset by any technique, tool, method, ortechnology known to those skilled in the art. This location oridentification may, for example, be performed by using a feature of thepresent invention, by performing a search engine search or a databasequery, by creating the asset from scratch, or by combining all or partof one or more existing assets.

In some embodiments, the location or identification may be performed bymeans of a contextual search, wherein the user searches for assets byidentifying contextual parameters, conditions, attributes,characteristics, or other criteria that are more complex than simplesearch keywords. Such contextual criteria may, for example, comprisecombinations of business requirements, characteristics related toresource-utilization, computing platform, or other functional ornon-functional criteria known to those skilled in the art.

In some embodiments, the location or identification may be performed byidentifying users associated with assets, thresholds or ranges ofuser-eminence or asset-eminence values, or other combinations ofcharacteristics or attributes of users, assets, extrinsic conditions orother search criteria.

In some embodiments, an asset-alert engine may automatically alert auser when certain conditions occur or when certain types of assetsbecome available or change in some way. An asset-alert engine may, forexample, allow a user to self-designate itself as “following” a specificasset or user, or as “following” a requirement, attribute, or othercharacteristic of an asset or user. Such self-designation may, forexample, indicate that a user wishes to be notified of any creation,deletion, or change to a followed asset, to assets associated with afollowed user, to assets that satisfy a followed requirement, or toassets that are associated with a followed attribute.

In such cases, the asset-alert engine may store information about afollowing user and the entities that the user is following in anasset-alert or asset-change database. The asset-alert engine would thentrack and record to the database changes or revisions made to a followeduser, asset, or requirement.

In some embodiments, if the asset-alert engine detects a change orrevision, the engine would then notify all following users of the changeor revision. In some cases, the engine might also automatically presentthe following users with metadata associated with the revised entities,or might automatically present a preview of the revised assets to thefollowing user.

In step 205, the one or more processors add or copy a first instance ofthe first asset to the first user's personal collection. As will bedescribed in subsequent figures, the processors may in this step alsoadjust the first user's user-eminence value or the first asset'sasset-eminence value as a function of the first user's use or access ofthe first asset.

In some embodiments, the one or more processors automatically create anassociation between the first user and the first asset when this addingor copying occurs. Such an association may indicate that the first useris “following” the first asset or has an affinity with the first asset,or that the first user “likes” the first asset.

Such an association may be used by embodiments of the present inventionto automatically associate the first asset with the first user. In oneexample, if a second user has followed the first user, the second usermay automatically be notified of changes to the first asset because ofan existence of such an association between the first user and the firstasset. In another example, if a second user's search for assets thathave a particular characteristic identifies the first asset, the seconduser might be further identified of a possibility that similar assetsmight be found in the first user's personal collection.

In some embodiments, all or part of step 205 may be performed beforestep 203. In such an embodiment, the one or more processors may add aninstance of the first asset to the first user's personal collectionbefore the first user uses the first asset. In other cases, the one ormore processors may add an instance of the first asset to the firstuser's personal collection before the first user uses all or part of thefirst asset, but after the first user has searched, located, identified,retrieved, examined, displayed, or otherwise previewed the asset.

In step 207, the one or more processors detect that a second user hasidentified the first instance of the first asset in the first user'spersonal collection. The second user may locate or identify the firstinstance by any technique, tool, method, or technology known to thoseskilled in the art.

Embodiments of the present invention may, for example, allow the seconduser to identify the first instance by means of a contextual searchbased, for example, on a personal interest of the second user or on another characteristic of the second user. In another example, theidentification may have been a result of the second user beingautomatically alerted to the first user's creation of or use of thefirst asset because either the first user or the second user hasestablished an affinity between the two users. Such an affinity may be afunction of one of the two users' self-identification as a “follower” ofthe other user, or it may be a function of common characteristics orattributes shared by the two users.

In yet another example, the identification may have been a result of anautomatic notification configured by the second user that automaticallyalerts the second user of a creation of or a use of an asset that meetscertain criteria or that is associated with a certain set of attributesor characteristics.

In some embodiments, the second user may identify the second asset byfiltering a set of search or query results by any of the criteriadescribed above, or by any other method known to those skilled in theart. Such filtering criteria may comprise, but are not limited to: arequirement associated with the second user; an identity of or acharacteristic of a user, including a “following” designation, whosepersonal collection comprises an instance of a digital asset; a range ofasset-eminence values of an asset; a range of user-eminence values of anasset or of a user whose personal collection comprises an instance of anasset; or a rating based on any of these criteria.

In some embodiments, the one or more processors may, for example,automatically notify the second user when a user that the second user isfollowing has created or used an asset. In another example, the one ormore processors might automatically notify the second user when anyasset associated with one or more characteristics “followed” by thesecond user is created, copied, used, reused, or otherwise accessed byanother user.

In some embodiments, the one or more processors may, automaticallynotify the second user if the first user makes any change to any assetof the first user's personal collection. In some cases, such anautomatic notification may be performed only if the second user hasself-identified itself as a follower of the first user.

In some embodiments, the one or more processors, in addition to, orinstead of, allowing the second user to follow another user or arequirement, may allow the second user to follow a specific asset. Insuch cases, the one or more processors may automatically notify thesecond user whenever an instance of a followed asset is accessed, used,copied, updated, deleted, moved, or otherwise affected or altered in away specified by the “following” second user.

The second user might, for example, search for all digital assetsrelated to manufacturing facilities associated with users whom thesecond user follows. If this search returns 1200 assets, the second usermight then filter the results so as to identify only those assets that:i) are stored in a personal collection of a user whom the second user isfollowing; ii) are video files; and iii) have an asset-eminence valuethat exceeds a certain threshold.

In another example, if the second user is following a digital asset thatcomprises a spreadsheet-program worksheet, one instance of which isstored in a first user's personal collection, then the one or moreprocessors may automatically notify the second user whenever the firstuser edits or otherwise updates the followed worksheet.

In step 209, the one or more processors detect that the second user hasaccessed or reused the first asset. This accessing or reuse may compriseany sort of activity deemed relevant to the embodiment or implementationof the present invention.

In one example, if the second user had in step 207 identified an audiofile comprised by the first user's collection, the one or moreprocessors might detect in step 209 that the second user had, subsequentto identifying the audio file, reused the audio file as a soundtrack toa streaming-video asset created by the second user.

In other variations of this example, the one or more processors mightinstead detect in step 209 that the second user had accessed the audiofile by playing a first part of the file, by downsampling the file orconverting it from stereo to mono in order to reduce its storagerequirements, or by forwarding an excerpt to a third user. In someembodiments, a reuse may occur only if the second user copies, alters,displays, or incorporates all or part of the file in a new asset. Inother embodiments a reuse may also occur if the user merely examinesmetadata associated with the asset, but decides not to further accessthe asset in any way. Such a metadata examination might comprise taskslike retrieving the asset's creation date and size or viewing athumbnail representation of content of the asset.

In some embodiments, all or part of step 211 may be performed beforestep 209. In such an embodiment, the one or more processors may add aninstance of the first asset to the second user's personal collectionbefore the second user reuses the first asset. In other cases, the oneor more processors may add an instance of the first asset to the seconduser's personal collection before the second user reuses all or part ofthe first asset, but after the second user has searched, located,identified, retrieved, examined, displayed, or otherwise previewed theasset.

In step 211, the one or more processors automatically create a secondinstance of the first asset in response to the second user'sidentification or access of the asset in step 209. The processors thenadd this second instance to the second user's personal collection, whereit may be located or identified by other users. Here, the secondinstance and the first instance will share a common asset-eminence valueif the two instances comprise identical content.

In some embodiments, the one or more processors automatically create anassociation between the second user and the first asset when this addingor copying occurs. Similar to the analogous function described for thefirst user in step 205, such an association may indicate that the seconduser is “following” the first asset or has an affinity with the firstasset, or that the second user “likes” the first asset.

In some embodiments, if the second user's reuse of the first asset hasaltered the first asset or reused only part of the first asset, the oneor more processors may store an instance of the second user's alteredasset in the second user's collection as an instance of a new assetdistinct from the first asset. In some cases, the processors may storein the second user's collection both the instance of the new, alteredasset and a new instance of the original first asset.

In step 213, the one or more processors may adjust the first user'suser-eminence value and the first asset's asset-eminence value inresponse to the second user's identification or access of the asset. Insome embodiments, this step may occur in step 209 or step 211.

Such updating may be a function of an asset-eminence value of the firstasset, of a user-eminence value of the first user, or of a user-eminencevalue of the second user. Examples of such a function are described inmore detail in FIGS. 4-5.

In some embodiments, the one or more processors may perform thisadjusting as a further function of a time at which or a manner in whichthe second user identifies or accesses the first asset. In one example,if the first instance of the first asset, stored in the first user'spersonal collection, is accessed by 10 users over a period of a year,then the eminence of the first user resulting from each access isincreased by a smaller amount each time another access occurs. Such adecay function ascribes a greater value to accesses that occur closer tothe time of the asset's initial addition to the first user's personalcollection.

Other types of decay functions are possible. The amount of adjustment ofthe first user's eminence value may, for example, be increased ordecreased as a function of how many users have already accessed theinstance of the first asset stored in the first user's collection. Inanother example, if multiple generations of users successively reuse anasset, an increase to the first user's user-eminence value resultingfrom each asset decreases with each generation. This decay function isdescribed in greater detail in FIG. 3.

In some embodiments, the one or more processors may adjust the firstasset's asset-eminence value as a further function of a characteristicor attribute of the first user or of the second user. In someembodiments, for example, if the second user has a higher user-eminencevalue, the eminence value of the first user or of the first asset mightbe increased by a greater amount. In another example, if the second userbelongs to a more prominent or more prestigious class, such asevangelist, the eminence value of the first user or of the first assetmight be increased by a greater amount.

At the conclusion of step 213, the one or more processors, in responseto detecting the second user's reuse of an asset in the first user'spersonal collection, will have copied the first asset to the seconduser's collection and will have adjusted the eminence value of the firstuser and the eminence value of the first asset.

The amount of this adjustment may be a function of characteristics ofthe first user, of the second user, of the first asset, and of the timeand manner of the second user's reuse. More important or more relevantreuses may result in greater eminence increases.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart that overviews a second embodiment of the presentinvention that enables digital asset reuse by more than two usersthrough dynamically curated shared personal collections with eminencepropagation. FIG. 3 comprises steps 301-319.

Steps 301-313 of FIG. 3 are identical to respective steps 201-213 ofFIG. 2. In order to increase readability and conserve space, the abovedescriptions of steps 201-213, which also describe steps 301-313, arenot duplicated here.

In step 315, the one or more processors detect that a third user hasidentified and accessed or reused the second instance of the first assetin the second user's personal collection. Similar to the manner in whichthe second user in step 207 located or identified the first instance inthe first user's personal collection, the third user here may locate oridentify the second instance by any technique, tool, method, ortechnology known to those skilled in the art.

Like the first user and the second user, the third user is associatedwith a set of characteristics or attributes, including a thirduser-eminence value. Some or all of these characteristics, attributes,and user-eminence values may be analogous or similar to thecharacteristics, attributes, and user-eminence values of the first userand second user, as described above in the description of step 201.Furthermore, the third user's characteristics, attributes, anduser-eminence may be identified, assigned a value, or otherwisemanipulated, used, or managed in a manner similar or identical to themanner in which the same operations may be performed upon the firstuser's characteristics, attributes, and user-eminence.

Other tasks performed in step 315 are analogous to those described insteps 207-209. For example, embodiments of the present invention mayallow the third user to identify the second instance by means of acontextual search based, or as a result of the third user beingautomatically alerted to the second user's creation of or use of thefirst asset, or because the second user or the third user has identifiedan affinity between the two users, such as a common interest or afollowing/follower relationship shared by the two users.

As described above, the one or more processors may also allow the thirduser to more precisely locate or identify the second asset by filteringa set of search or query results by any criteria relative to theembodiment of FIG. 3.

In some embodiments, the one or more processors, in addition to, orinstead of, allowing the third user to follow another user or arequirement, may also allow the third user to identify a specific assetto follow. In such cases, the one or more processors may automaticallynotify the third user whenever an instance of a followed asset isaccessed, used, copied, updated, deleted, moved, or otherwise affectedor altered in a way specified by the “following” third user.

In some embodiments, all or part of step 205 may be performed beforestep 203. In such an embodiment, the one or more processors may add aninstance of the first asset to the third user's personal collectionbefore the third user uses the first asset. In other cases, the one ormore processors may add an instance of the first asset to the thirduser's personal collection before the third user uses all or part of thefirst asset, but after the third user has searched, located, identified,retrieved, examined, displayed, or otherwise previewed the asset.

In step 317, the one or more processors, in a procedure analogous tothat of step 211 of FIG. 2, automatically create a third instance of thefirst asset in response to the third user's identification, reuse, orother access of the second instance of the first asset in step 309. Theone or more processors then, in a procedure analogous to that of steps211 and 213 of FIG. 2, add this third instance to a third personalcollection of digital assets associated with the third user, where itmay be located or identified by other users, and reward the first userby adjusting the first user's user-eminence value.

In some embodiments, the one or more processors automatically create anassociation between the third user and the first asset when this addingor copying occurs. Similar to the analogous function described for thefirst user in steps 205 and 211, such an association may indicate thatthe third user is “following” the first asset or has an affinity withthe first asset, or that the third user “likes” the first asset.

The third personal collection is similar to the personal collections ofthe first and second users, comprising types of digital assets that maybe similar to types of digital assets comprised by the first and secondusers' personal collections, as described above. The digital assetscomprised by the third user's personal collection may be furtherassociated with metadata characteristics, attributes, and asset-eminencevalues similar to those associated with assets comprised by the firstand second users' personal collections, as described above. Inparticular, the newly created third instance will share a commonasset-eminence value with the first instance and the second instance, solong as the two instances comprise identical content.

In a manner similar to that of step 213, the one or more processors mayadjust the first user's user-eminence value or the first asset'sasset-eminence value in response to the third user's identification,reuse, or other access of the second instance of the first asset. Suchupdating may be a function of the first asset's asset-eminence value, ofthe first user's user-eminence value, of the second user's user-eminencevalue, or of the third user's user-eminence value. Such a function isdescribed in more detail in FIGS. 4-5.

In some embodiments, as explained in the description of step 213, theone or more processors may perform this adjusting as a further functionof a time at which or a manner in which the third user identifies oraccesses the first asset.

In some embodiments, one class of decay function may adjust the firstuser's eminence value by a greater amount when another users accesses aninstance of the first asset that is associated through fewer generationsof reuse with the instance in the first user's collection. In theembodiment of FIG. 3, for example: the first user's user-eminence valuemight be increased by a first amount when the second user accesses thefirst instance of the first asset stored in the first user's collection;the first user's user-eminence value might be increased by a secondamount when the third user accesses the second instance of the firstasset stored in the second user's collection; and the first user'suser-eminence value might be increased by a third amount when a fourthuser accesses a third instance of the first asset stored in the thirduser's collection.

In this example, the second user's access might be deemed afirst-generation access of the first-user's personal collection becausethe second user accesses an asset instance that is actually stored inthe first user's collection. Similarly, the third user's access might bedeemed a second-generation access of the first-user's personalcollection because the third user accesses an asset instance, stored inthe second user's collection, that is one generation removed from theinstance stored in the first user's collection. And the fourth user'saccess might be deemed a third-generation access of the first-user'spersonal collection because the fourth user accesses an asset instance,stored in the third user's collection, that is two generations removedfrom the instance stored in the first user's collection.

In this example, if all other things are equal, a decay function mightset the first amount of adjustment to be greater than the second amountof adjustment and further set the second amount of adjustment to begreater than the third amount of adjustment. In other words, the firstuser would be rewarded with a greater increase in eminence when anotheruser directly accesses the first user's collection, but the first userwould then be rewarded with a lesser increase when yet another useraccesses an instance of an asset that was directly or indirectly copiedfrom an instance in the first user's collection.

In addition to rewarding the first user by increasing the first user'suser-eminence value, the one or more processors in step 317 may alsoreward the second user by increasing the second user's user-eminencevalue. This rewarding may be performed in a manner similar to thatdescribed in step 213.

In some embodiments, the second user's reward may be greater than thefirst user's reward in step 317 because the third user directly accessedthe second user's collection in step 315, but only indirectly, throughan additional generation of reuse and copying, accessed the first user'scollection in step 315.

In other embodiments, the first user's reward may be greater than thesecond user's reward because the second instance of the first assetstored in the second user's collection is a mere copy of a sourceinstance stored in the first user's collection.

In yet other embodiments, these factors may not, or may not always,affect the amounts of the rewards, or the relative amounts of reward,awarded to the first and second users as a result of the third user'saccess of the second instance of the asset.

In some embodiments, the one or more processors may adjust theasset-eminence value of the first asset in response to the adjustmentsto the third user's access of the second instance of the asset in step317. As with the user-eminence adjustments, this adjustment to theasset-eminence value may be a function of a number of generations ofreuse or copying that separate an instance that was actually accessedand an instance associated with another user whose personalcharacteristics or attributes may affect an amount of adjustment of theasset's asset-eminence value.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart that illustrates a method of deriving anasset-eminence value associated with a first digital asset in accordancewith embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 4 comprises steps401-413.

FIG. 4 provides greater detail to tasks described in step 213 of FIG. 2and steps 313 and 317 of FIG. 3. In some embodiments, the one or moreprocessors may also use the method of FIG. 4 to derive, initialize, oradjust an asset-eminence value associated with a digital asset stored ina user's personal collection when performing other tasks comprised by orrelated to the embodiment.

As explained above, in embodiments of the present invention describedherein, one or more processors associate each digital asset stored in auser's personal collection with an asset-eminence value specific to thatasset. Embodiments of the present invention further associate each userwith a distinct user-eminence value specific to that user. Highereminence values may indicate greater prominence, status, or importanceand an increase to a user's user-eminence value or to an asset-eminencevalue of an asset stored in the user's personal collection is thusdesirable to the user.

In embodiments of the present invention, an asset that is accessed orreused more often or by a greater number of users may have a greaterasset-eminence value. Similarly, a user whose personal collectioncomprises a greater number of higher-eminence assets may have a highereminence value. Similarly, an eminence value of an asset that increasesbecause it was accessed or reused by a particular user may increase by agreater amount if the particular user has a greater eminence value.

In step 401, the one or more processors identify all instances of afirst digital asset that are stored in personal collections, whereineach personal collection comprises at most one instance of the firstdigital asset and wherein each personal collection is associated withone user or one set of users.

Here, each asset instance I is initially associated with a basiceminence value A_(I). This basic eminence may be associated withinstance I as a function of prior asset-eminence computations or may beset manually by a user when the instance is created or updated. In someembodiments, the one or more processors may automatically associate theinstance I with a basic eminence that is a function of any of thefactors, described above, that may be comprised by an asset-eminenceassignment or derivation.

In step 403, the one or more processors sort or order the instancesidentified in step 401 by a number of generations of reuse. As explainedin the description of steps 213 and 317, the first digital asset may bereused by multiple generations of users.

A first user, for example, might locate, access, and use the asset, oran initial instance of the asset, and store a first instance of theasset in a first personal collection. A second user might then copy thefirst instance into the second user's second personal collection as asecond instance, and a third user and a fourth user might next copy thesecond instance, respectively, into the third user's third personalcollection as a third instance and into the fourth user's fourthpersonal collection as a fourth instance. In such a case, the firstdigital asset might be deemed to be associated with two generations ofreuse, the second instance representing a first generation of reuse andthe third and fourth instances representing a second generation ofreuse. The one or more processors might thus in step 403 organize theinstances into a first group that comprises the first instance, a secondgroup that comprises the second instance, and a third group thatcomprises the third and fourth instances.

In another embodiment, the one or more processors might interpret theabove reusage as comprising three generations of reuse. This mightoccur, for example, if the first user is deemed to have reused thedigital asset. In such a case, the second instance would be deemed toidentify a second generation or reuse and the third instance would bedeemed to identify a third generation of reuse.

It does not matter which of these two interpretations (or some othersystem of counting generations) is used for identifying a number ofgenerations of use or reuse of a digital asset, so long as a same methodof identifying is consistently used. What is important here is theresulting relative ranking or ordering of instances, such that allinstances of all digital assets are organized into groups that eachcomprise instances associated with a same number of generations ofreuse.

In a more concrete example, the one or more processors may in step 403organize instances of a digital asset identified in step 401 into threegroups. Instances in the first group might have never been reused byother users, instances comprised by the second group might have beenreused by only one generation of users, and instances comprised by thethird group would have been reused by two generations of users.

In this example, an instance comprised by the second group might havebeen reused by eight first-generation reusers who each copied thesecond-group instance into his or her own personal collection. But theseeight newly copied instances were never reused in turn by a secondgeneration of reusers. Similarly, an instance comprised by the thirdgroup might have been reused by six first-generation reusers who eachcopied the third-group instance into his or her own personal collection,and those six newly copied instances were then, in aggregate, reused bynineteen second-generation reusers who each copied one of the six copiedinstances into one of the second-generation reusers' personalcollections. Hence, in this example, the six instances comprised by thesecond group are each first-generation copies of the single instancecomprised by the first group, and the nineteen instances comprised bythe third group are each a second-generation copy of the instancecomprised by the first group and a first-generation copy of an instancecomprised by the second group.

In some embodiments, the first, second, third group might be describedas containing, respectively, first-generation instances,second-generation instances, and third-generation instances of the firstdigital asset. In some embodiments, the first, second, third group mightbe described as containing, respectively, first-level instances,second-level instances, and third-level instances of the first digitalasset.

Some implementations may comprise a large number of digital assets or alarge number of asset instances stored in personal collections. In suchcases, manually identifying, characterizing, relating, or organizingassets or instances may consume burdensome amounts of resources. Someembodiments of the present invention, therefore, may maintain an assetdatabase, instance database, or other information repository thatidentifies each instance of each asset and relates instances that areassociated with a common asset. Such entries may also identifyattributes of each asset or instance, including an asset-eminence valueor identifications of users whose personal collections comprise aninstance of a particular asset. These entries might be automaticallyupdated whenever a user creates, identifies, locates, copies, reuses, orotherwise accesses an asset or an instance of an asset. In such cases,all or part of steps 401 and 403 might be performed by means of adatabase query, a repository search, or an other information-retrievalmethod known to those skilled in the art.

In some embodiments all instances of all digital assets may be stored ina single aggregated collection that comprises all personal collectionsof all users. In such an implementation, the assets or instances mightlogically appear to users as being organized into the personalcollections described above.

In step 405, the one or more processors may associate an asset weightwith each digital asset or with each instance of each digital asset. Insome embodiments, asset weights may not be so associated.

An asset weight may indicate a relative importance of an associatedasset or instance. A weight may be derived, initialized, or adjustedaccording to implementation-dependent parameters, priorities, orconditions, and the exact method of identifying a value of a weight maybe performed by means of an implementer's expert knowledge or by meansknown to those skilled in the art.

A weight W_(I) associated with an instance I of a first asset, forexample, might be assigned a value that is a function of a type T ofreuse of instance I, an eminence E_(P) of a user P who reuses instanceI, or a duration of time elapsed since any user most recently reusedinstance I. Here, a type of reuse of instance I may comprise, but is notlimited to, reviewing or previewing instance I, copying instance I toanother personal collection, incorporating all or part of instance Iinto a new asset, or updating or revising the first asset.

In some embodiments, the weight W_(I) associated with an instance I maybe identified as a function of a level or generation reuse associatedwith instance I. Here, a greater number of generations of reuse mightresult in a lower weight, resulting in smaller increases to eminencevalues as a result of more attenuated relationships between instances.In other embodiments, the weight W_(I) associated with an instance I maybe identified as a function of a number of reuses of instance I,resulting in more popular assets, all other things equal, generallyhaving greater asset-eminence values.

In some embodiments a weight may be assigned or adjusted manually by asystem designer, implementer, business expert, or other person whopossesses expert knowledge of a business, user, asset, or other entityrelevant to the embodiment. In other embodiments, a weight may beassigned or adjusted automatically by the one or more processors as afunction of a combination of factors similar to those described in thisstep.

In some embodiments, a weight may be all or in part inherited from aparent instance or may be assigned or adjusted as a function of a weightassociated with the parent instance. If, for example, a first instanceI₁ of a digital asset in a first user's personal collection is copied toa second instance I₂ in a second user's personal collection, a weight W₂associated with second instance I₂ may be initially set to a value of aweight W₁ that had been associated with first instance I₁ at the time ofthe copying. In variations of this example, W₂ may be set as a functionof the value of W₁, such as a function that derives a value of W₂ bydiscounting the value of W₁ by a decay factor that associates lowerweights with instances that have not been reused for longer periods oftime.

At the completion of step 405, the one or more processors will haveorganized all instances of a first digital asset into a set of groups,wherein each group contains instances that are related to a firstinstance of the first digital asset by a same number of generations ofcopying.

Step 407 initiates an iterative process of steps 407-411. This iterativeprocess repeats once for each generation or level J of instances. If,for example, the one or more processors in step 403 organize theinstances identified in step 401 into nine groups, each of whichcomprises instances at a same level of reuse, then the iterative processof steps 407-411 would be performed nine times (with the value J rangingwith each iteration from 1 to 9), once for each generation or level ofreuse. Each of these nine iterations would identify a Jth-levelasset-eminence value associated with the first digital asset and at theconclusion of the ninth iteration, the one or more processors will haveidentified nine Jth-level asset-eminence values, which will be used instep 413 to determine an overall asset-eminence value for the firstdigital asset.

In step 409, the one or more processors apply an asset weighting W_(I),identified in step 405, to each basic asset-eminence value A_(I)associated with an asset instance I identified in step 401. In theexample shown here, this application is a simple multiplication of abasic eminence value by a corresponding weighting.

Thus, for each asset instance I identified in step 401, the one or moreprocessors in step 409 identify a weighted basic asset-eminence valueequal to A_(I)*W_(I).

In step 411, the one or more processors add the weighted basicasset-eminence values A_(I)*W_(I) for all instances I identified in step401, and then weight the resulting sum by a J^(th)-level weighting valueW_(J).

Level-weighting values may be identified by any criteria deemed relevantto the embodiment, such that factors considered less important to anasset's asset-eminence value may exert less of a positive effect on theasset-eminence value that factors deemed more important. Here, W_(J) maybe a factor that discounts a value of a reuse that is associated with ahigher number of generations of reuse.

In some embodiments, a level-weighting value may be constrained to twovalues, one that is associated with a direct reuse of an instance of anasset, and an other that is associated with an indirect(multi-generational) reuse of the instance. In one example of such alevel-weighting, an instance associated with level J=2 might beassociated with a first level-weighting value and instances associatedwith all other levels, J>2, would be associated with a secondlevel-weighting value. If the second level-weighting value was less thanthe first level-weighting value, the resulting embodiment would ascribegreater importance to instances at level 2 than it would to instancesthat reused a level-2 instance. Other embodiments may comprisevariations of this methodology.

In one example, if an instance I spawns a first-generation instance anda second-generation instance, then a 1^(st)-level weighting value W₁might be assigned a value that is twice a value of a 2^(nd)-levelweighting value W₂. This would result the first-generation reuse being amore heavily weighted factor than the second-generation reuse whendetermining the effects of the reuse on an asset-eminence value.

At the conclusion of step 411 of a Jth iteration of the iterativeprocess of steps 407-411, the one or more processors will thus havedetermined a sum of weighted basic asset-eminence values of allinstances identified in step 401 as being associated with a Jth-levelreuse, and will have further weighted that sum by a Jth-level weightingfactor. The resulting interim mathematical entity may be expressed as:W _(J)*Σ(W _(I) *A ^(I) _(J)),

where A^(I) _(J) represents a basic asset-eminence value of an i^(th)asset instance associated with the J^(th) level of reuse, where W_(I)represents an asset-instance weighting value identified in step 405 andassociated with the i^(th) asset instance, and W_(J) represents aJ^(th)-level weighting value associated with the J^(th) level of reuse.

At the conclusion of the J^(th) iteration of the iterative process ofsteps 407-411, the one or more processors will have derived a set of Jlevel asset eminences, each of which identifies a doubly weightedasset-eminence value of all instances of the first digital asset thatare associated with a particular level or generation of reuse of thefirst digital asset, wherein each particular level may be a value from 1through J.

Some embodiments may not identify asset-eminence weighting or a levelweighting for one or more levels or for one or more instances of thefirst digital asset. In such cases, a weighting may be deemed to beunnecessary or incongruent with other requirements or featuresassociated with the embodiment, or may be deemed to be unnecessary inorder for the embodiment to operate within desired levels of precision.

In step 413, the one or more processors derive an asset-eminence valueE_(A) of the first digital asset A as a sum of a weighted explicitasset-rating and the J doubly weighted level asset-eminence valuesderived in the J iterations of the iterative process of steps 407-411.

Here, the weighted explicit user asset-rating may be expressed as aproduct of an unweighted explicit asset-rating R_(A) of the firstdigital asset A and a rating weighting factor W_(R). In someembodiments, the one or more computers may compute, adjust, or assignvalues to these two factors as a function of implementation-dependentcriteria, and this computation, adjustment, or assignment may beperformed automatically by the one or more processors, or manually by animplementer who is skilled in the art or who possesses expert knowledgeof the embodiment, its users, or the assets that it manages.

In some embodiments the unweighted explicit user's asset-rating R_(A)may be initially selected by a user as a function of the user's judgmentof a relative importance of the asset. A user may, for example, assign agreater rating to a first asset than to a second asset if the userperceives that the first asset is more important, more useful, or morecost-effective than the second asset. These user asset ratings may bereferenced by other users as search criteria when searching for specificassets in search procedures like that of step 203.

In step 413, the one or more processors thus derive the asset-eminencevalue E_(A) of the first digital asset A as:E _(A)=Σ(W _(J)*Σ(W _(I) *A ^(I) _(J)))+(W _(R) *R _(A))

In some embodiments, E_(A) may be expressed as either an absolute value,as shown above, or may be translated to an equivalent percentile valueor other equivalent representation.

In some embodiments, when an asset-eminence value E_(A) of a first assetA is created, defined, adjusted, or otherwise associated with the assetA or with an instance Inst_(A) of the asset A, this asset-eminence valueis automatically propagated across some or all other instances of assetA associated with any personal collection comprised by the embodiment.

In some embodiments, this propagation may be limited to all instancesamong the J levels or generations referenced in the figure above,wherein the instances at each J>1 level have been generated as resultsof direct or indirect accessing of instance Inst_(A) at the 1st level.

In other embodiments, this propagation may further extend to otherinstances of A that are not directly or indirectly derived fromInst_(A). Such instances may, for example, comprise an instance of assetA from which instance Inst_(A) was derived (a “parent” or “ancestor” ofinstance Inst_(A)), or may comprise other instances of asset A that donot share a same branch with Inst_(A) in a hierarchical representationof parent-child relationships of instances of asset A.

In embodiments of the present invention, any revision to anasset-eminence value of any instance of asset A may result in thatrevision being automatically propagated to asset-eminence values of allother instances of asset A comprised by any user's personal collection.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart that illustrates a method of deriving auser-eminence value in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 provides greater detail to tasks described in step 213 of FIG. 2and steps 313 and 317 of FIG. 3. In some embodiments, the one or moreprocessors may also use the method of FIG. 5 to derive, initialize, oradjust a user-eminence value associated with a particular user whenperforming other tasks comprised by or related to the embodiment.

As explained above, in embodiments of the present invention describedherein, one or more processors associate each user with a distinctuser-eminence value specific to that user and further associate anasset-eminence value with each asset instance comprised by the user'spersonal collection. As with asset-eminence values, a higheruser-eminence value may indicate greater prominence, status, orimportance and an increase to a user's user-eminence value is thusdesirable to the user.

In embodiments of the present invention, an instance that is accessed orreused more often or by a greater number of users may have a greaterpositive effect on a user-eminence value of a user whose personalcollection contains that instance. Similarly, a user whose personalcollection comprises a greater number of instances of higher-eminenceassets may be associated with a higher user-eminence value. In addition,a user may be manually or automatically associated with an initialweighted or unweighted user-eminence value that is selected as afunction of implementation-dependent criteria.

In step 501, the one or more processors identify an asset-eminencevalues E of every asset instance comprised by a personal collection of afirst user P. As explained in the description of FIG. 4, each instanceof a digital asset A may be associated with a correspondingasset-eminence value E_(A), as derived by step 413 of FIG. 4. In somecases, an asset-eminence value of an asset that has not yet been reusedmay be identified by a function of a weighted or by an unweighteddefault rating.

In step 503, the one or more processors adjust each asset-eminence valueidentified in step 501 by multiplying the value by a weighting valuespecific to the asset, to the user, or to a particular instance of anasset stored in the user's personal collection. In some embodiments,this weighting may be omitted for one or more instances.

In step 505, the one or more processors add the weighted asset-eminencevalues generated in step 503. In one example, if the user's personalcollection contains k instances of digital assets, the weighted summight be represented as:Σ(W _(k) *E _(A) _(k) )where a weighting value associated with a k^(th) instance is representedas W_(k), and where an asset-eminence value of the k^(th) instance isrepresented as E_(A) _(k) .

In step 507, the one or more processors derive a user-eminence valueE_(P) for first user P by adjusting the weighted sum derived in step 505with a weighted explicit user-rating. In some embodiments, the explicituser-rating may not be modified by a weighting value.

The weighted explicit user-rating apply may be expressed as a product ofan unweighted explicit user-rating R_(P) associated with the first userP and an explicit user-rating weighting factor W_(P) of user P. In someembodiments of the present invention the one or more processors maycompute, adjust, or assign values to these two elements as a function ofimplementation-dependent criteria, and this computation, adjustment, orassignment may be performed automatically by the one or more processors,or manually by an implementer who is skilled in the art or who possessesexpert knowledge of the embodiment, its users, or the assets that itmanages.

In other embodiments the unweighted explicit user-rating R_(P) may beinitially selected by one or more users (excluding user P) as a functionof the one or more users' judgment of a relative importance of the user.A user may, for example, be assigned a greater explicit user-rating ifthe user perceives that the first is perceived to be more important,more influential, or more competent than other users. These user-ratingsmay be referenced by other users as search criteria when searching forspecific assets in search procedures like that of step 203.

In step 507, the one or more processors thus derive a user-eminencevalue E_(P) of user P as:E _(P)=Σ(W _(k) *E _(A) _(k) )+(W _(P) *R _(P))

E_(P) may be expressed as an absolute value, as shown above, or may betranslated to an equivalent percentile value or other equivalentrepresentation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for enabling digital asset reuse, themethod comprising: a processor of a computer system detecting that afirst user has used a digital asset, wherein the first user isassociated with a first user-eminence value that represents a relativeimportance of the first user, and wherein the digital asset isassociated with an asset-eminence value that represents a relativeimportance of the digital asset; the processor, in response to thedetecting, automatically creating and adding a first instance of thedigital asset to a first collection of digital assets for a purpose ofallowing other users to identify and use the digital asset, wherein thefirst collection is a personal collection of the first user and isaccessible by other users without requiring an action of the processor;the processor further detecting that a second user has identified thefirst instance of the digital asset, that the second user has requestedfrom the first user access to the first instance of the digital asset inresponse to the identifying, and that the second user has, uponreceiving permission from the first user, subsequently used the firstinstance, wherein the second user is associated with a seconduser-eminence value that represents a relative importance of the seconduser, and; the processor responding to the further detecting by furtherautomatically creating and adding a second instance of the digital assetto a second collection of digital assets for a purpose of allowing otherusers to identify and use the digital asset, wherein the secondcollection is a personal collection of the second user and is accessibleby other users without requiring an action of the processor; theprocessor revising, as a function of the further detecting, theasset-eminence value and the first user-eminence value, but not thesecond user-eminence value; the processor receiving notice that a thirduser has further identified the second instance of the digital asset,that the third user has requested from the second user access to thesecond instance of the digital asset in response to the furtheridentifying, and that the third user has, upon receiving permission fromthe second user, subsequently used the second instance, wherein thethird user is associated with a third user-eminence value thatrepresents a relative importance of the third user, and; the processorautomatically creating and adding a third instance of the digital assetto a third collection of digital assets for a purpose of allowing otherusers to identify and use the digital asset, wherein the thirdcollection is a personal collection of the third user and is accessibleby other users without requiring an action of the processor; and theprocessor further revising, as a function of the receiving notice, theasset-eminence value, the first user-eminence value, and the seconduser-eminence value, but not the third user-eminence value.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein revising the first user-eminence value awardsa first incentive to the first user, wherein revising the seconduser-eminence value awards a second incentive to the second user, andwherein a value of the first incentive is greater than a value of thesecond incentive.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the value of thefirst incentive and the value of the second incentive are determined asa function of a first time at which the first instance is accessed bythe second user and as a further function of a second time at which thesecond instance is accessed by the third user, and wherein a differencebetween the value of the first incentive and the value of the secondincentive is proportional to a duration of time between the first timeand the second time.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second useridentifies the first instance of the digital asset as a function of anaffinity between the first user and the second user.
 5. The method ofclaim 4, wherein the affinity is a function of the second user'sself-identification as a follower of the first user.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the digital asset is associated with metadata thatdescribes a characteristic of the digital asset, and wherein the seconduser identifies the first instance of the digital asset as a function ofthe metadata.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user isassociated with a user characteristic, and wherein the second useridentifies the first instance of the digital asset as a function of theuser characteristic.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the using thefirst instance comprises creating a new digital asset that comprises atleast a portion of the digital asset.
 9. The method of claim 1, whereinthe first collection is stored in a cloud-computing environment.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the first user-eminence value is a functionof a weighted sum of all eminence values of all assets comprised by thefirst collection.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein each instance ofthe digital asset is associated with a weighted eminence of a set ofweighted eminence values, wherein a particular instance of the digitalasset is stored in a personal collection of a particular user and isassociated with a particular weighted eminence of the set of weightedeminence values, wherein a value of the particular weighted eminence isdetermined as a function of a type of an initial usage of the digitalasset by the particular user, and wherein the asset-eminence value ofthe digital asset is a sum of all eminence values of the set of weightedeminence values that are associated with the digital asset.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising providing at least one supportservice for at least one of creating, integrating, hosting, maintaining,and deploying computer-readable program code in the computer system,wherein the computer-readable program code in combination with thecomputer system is configured to implement the detecting, theautomatically creating and adding a first instance, the furtherdetecting, the responding, the automatically creating and adding asecond instance, the revising, the receiving notice the automaticallycreating and adding a third instance, and the further revising.
 13. Acomputer program product, comprising a computer-readable hardwarestorage device having a computer-readable program code stored therein,said program code configured to be executed by a processor of a computersystem to implement a method for enabling digital asset reuse, themethod comprising: a processor of a computer system detecting that afirst user has used a digital asset, wherein the first user isassociated with a first user-eminence value that represents a relativeimportance of the first user, and wherein the digital asset isassociated with an asset-eminence value that represents a relativeimportance of the digital asset; the processor, in response to thedetecting, automatically creating and adding a first instance of thedigital asset to a first collection of digital assets for a purpose ofallowing other users to identify and use the digital asset, wherein thefirst collection is a personal collection of the first user and isaccessible by other users without requiring an action of the processor;the processor further detecting that a second user has identified thefirst instance of the digital asset, that the second user has requestedfrom the first user access to the first instance of the digital asset inresponse to the identifying, and that the second user has, uponreceiving permission from the first user, subsequently used the firstinstance, wherein the second user is associated with a seconduser-eminence value that represents a relative importance of the seconduser, and; the processor responding to the further detecting by furtherautomatically creating and adding a second instance of the digital assetto a second collection of digital assets for a purpose of allowing otherusers to identify and use the digital asset, wherein the secondcollection is a personal collection of the second user and is accessibleby other users without requiring an action of the processor; theprocessor revising, as a function of the further detecting, theasset-eminence value and the first user-eminence value, but not thesecond user-eminence value; the processor receiving notice that a thirduser has further identified the second instance of the digital asset,that the third user has requested from the second user access to thesecond instance of the digital asset in response to the furtheridentifying, and that the third user has, upon receiving permission fromthe second user, subsequently used the second instance, wherein thethird user is associated with a third user-eminence value thatrepresents a relative importance of the third user, and; the processorautomatically creating and adding a third instance of the digital assetto a third collection of digital assets for a purpose of allowing otherusers to identify and use the digital asset, wherein the thirdcollection is a personal collection of the third user and is accessibleby other users without requiring an action of the processor; and theprocessor further revising, as a function of the receiving notice, theasset-eminence value, the first user-eminence value, and the seconduser-eminence value, but not the third user-eminence value.
 14. Thecomputer program product of claim 13, wherein revising the firstuser-eminence value awards a first incentive to the first user, whereinrevising the second user-eminence value awards a second incentive to thesecond user, wherein a value of the first incentive is greater than avalue of the second incentive, wherein the value of the first incentiveand the value of the second incentive are determined as a function of afirst time at which the first instance is accessed by the second userand as a further function of a second time at which the second instanceis accessed by the third user, and wherein a difference between thevalue of the first incentive and the value of the second incentive isproportional to a duration of time between the first time and the secondtime.
 15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein eachinstance of the digital asset is associated with a weighted eminence ofa set of weighted eminence values, wherein a particular instance of thedigital asset is stored in a personal collection of a particular userand is associated with a particular weighted eminence of the set ofweighted eminence values, wherein a value of the particular weightedeminence is determined as a function of a type of an initial usage ofthe digital asset by the particular user, and wherein the asset-eminencevalue of the digital asset is a sum of all eminence values of the set ofweighted eminence values that are associated with the digital asset. 16.A computer system comprising a processor, a memory coupled to saidprocessor, and a computer-readable hardware storage device coupled tosaid processor, said storage device containing program code configuredto be run by said processor via the memory to implement a method forenabling digital asset reuse, the method comprising: the processordetecting that a first user has used a digital asset, wherein the firstuser is associated with a first user-eminence value that represents arelative importance of the first user, and wherein the digital asset isassociated with an asset-eminence value that represents a relativeimportance of the digital asset; the processor, in response to thedetecting, automatically creating and adding a first instance of thedigital asset to a first collection of digital assets for a purpose ofallowing other users to identify and use the digital asset, wherein thefirst collection is a personal collection of the first user and isaccessible by other users without requiring an action of the processor;the processor further detecting that a second user has identified thefirst instance of the digital asset, that the second user has requestedfrom the first user access to the first instance of the digital asset inresponse to the identifying, and that the second user has, uponreceiving permission from the first user, subsequently used the firstinstance, wherein the second user is associated with a seconduser-eminence value that represents a relative importance of the seconduser, and; the processor responding to the further detecting by furtherautomatically creating and adding a second instance of the digital assetto a second collection of digital assets for a purpose of allowing otherusers to identify and use the digital asset, wherein the secondcollection is a personal collection of the second user and is accessibleby other users without requiring an action of the processor; theprocessor revising, as a function of the further detecting, theasset-eminence value and the first user-eminence value, but not thesecond user-eminence value; the processor receiving notice that a thirduser has further identified the second instance of the digital asset,that the third user has requested from the second user access to thesecond instance of the digital asset in response to the furtheridentifying, and that the third user has, upon receiving permission fromthe second user, subsequently used the second instance, wherein thethird user is associated with a third user-eminence value thatrepresents a relative importance of the third user, and; the processorautomatically creating and adding a third instance of the digital assetto a third collection of digital assets for a purpose of allowing otherusers to identify and use the digital asset, wherein the thirdcollection is a personal collection of the third user and is accessibleby other users without requiring an action of the processor; and theprocessor further revising, as a function of the receiving notice, theasset-eminence value, the first user-eminence value, and the seconduser-eminence value, but not the third user-eminence value.
 17. Thecomputer system of claim 16, wherein each instance of the digital assetis associated with a weighted eminence of a set of weighted eminencevalues, wherein a particular instance of the digital asset is stored ina personal collection of a particular user and is associated with aparticular weighted eminence of the set of weighted eminence values,wherein a value of the particular weighted eminence is determined as afunction of a type of an initial usage of the digital asset by theparticular user, and wherein the asset-eminence value of the digitalasset is a sum of all eminence values of the set of weighted eminencevalues that are associated with the digital asset.